Detroit Lions release first depth chart of 2019 season

On Sunday, the Detroit Lions released their initial depth chart for the 2019 season in preparation for their preseason game Thursday against the New England Patriots.

As always, it is important to take these depth charts with a grain of salt. The order is compiled by the football communications department, not the head coach or the general manager. As such, don’t read too much into what you see, because there are even some blatant misleads, including Miles Killebrew being continually listed as a safety, even though head coach Matt Patricia fully acknowledged his position change to linebacker.

But if you like to overthink things, here’s how the Lions’ first “official” depth chart looks:

Offense:

QB: Matthew Stafford | Tom Savage | David Fales
RB: Kerryon Johnson | C.J. Anderson | Zach Zenner | Mark Thompson | Ty Johnson
FB: Nick Bawden
WR: Kenny Golladay | Jermaine Kearse | Chris Lacy | Jonathan Duhart
Slot WR: Danny Amendola | Brandon Powell | Tom Kennedy
WR: Marvin Jones Jr. | Andy Jones | Tommylee Lewis | Travis Fulgham
TE: Jesse James | T.J. Hockenson | Logan Thomas | Jerome Cunningham | Isaac Nauta | Austin Traylor

LT: Taylor Decker | Tyrell Crosby | Ryan Pope
LG: Kenny Wiggins | Joe Dahl | Luke Bowanko | Micah St. Andrew
C: Frank Ragnow | Leo Koloamatangi
RG: Graham Glasgow | Oday Aboushi | Beau Benzschawel
RT: Rick Wagner | Andrew Donnal | Matt Nelson

There aren’t too many surprises from this list. As expected, Wiggins and Glasgow are the two starting guards. However, along the offensive line, it’s interesting to see the Lions list Luke Bowanko as the third-string left guard, when he has been repping as the second-string center for most of camp, ahead of Koloamatangi.

T.J. Hockenson start second on the depth chart, but that seems simply like rookie treatment. Fellow rookies Travis Fulgham, Isaac Nauta and Ty Johnson are all further down the depth chart than they’ve been repping at practice.

Defense:

DE: Trey Flowers | Da’Shawn Hand | Mitchell Loewen
DT: Damon Harrison Sr. | John Atkins | Darius Kilgo | Ray Smith
DT: A’Shawn Robinson | Mike Daniels | P.J. Johnson | Kevin Strong | Fred Jones
DE: Romeo Okwara | Eric Lee | Austin Bryant

OLB: Devon Kennard | Jalen Reeves-Maybin | Malik Carney
MLB: Jarrad Davis | Jahlani Tavai | Anthony Pittman
OLB: Christian Jones | Steve Longa | Garret Dooley | Trey Lamar

CB: Darius Slay | Rashaan Melvin | Jamal Agnew | Mike Ford | Amani Oruwariye
CB: Justin Coleman | Teez Tabor | Marcus Cooper | Dee Virgin | Andre Chachere | Tarvarus McFadden

SS: Quandre Diggs | Tavon Wilson | Miles Killebrew | Will Harris
FS: Tracy Walker | Andrew Adams | Charles Washington | C.J. Moore

To be honest, you can throw this defensive depth chart in the trash. Because the Lions have so many different defensive looks and formations, this depth chart lists players together that don’t even play the same position. For example, the depth chart doesn’t have room for a nickel corner, so Justin Coleman is listed ahead of Teez Tabor, who doesn’t really even play the same position.

It’s even more garbled up front, where the Lions have Da’Shawn Hand on the edge, when he mostly plays in the interior and Romeo Okwara as a starting edge defender, which really belongs to Devon Kennard as the JACK linebacker. Meanwhile, Jarrad Davis and Jahlani Tavai have spent all training camp working alongside each other with the first-team defense, but Tavai is listed as Davis’ backup in the middle. The truth is both will likely be getting some OLB and MLB snaps this year.

Special teams:

PK: Matt Prater | Ryan Santoso
Holder: Sam Martin
Kickoffs: Sam Martin
Punter: Sam Martin
LS: Don Muhlbach
PR: Jamal Agnew
KR: Jamal Agnew

You can pretty much write this one in pen, although it is interesting they chose not to mention backups in the kick and punt return game.